THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE DLREV

SOFTWARE FOR IMPROVED REVENUE

MOBILIZATION AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT

LEVEL: A COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

GOVERNANCE FOR INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT / SUPPORT FOR

DECENTRALISATION REFORMS (SFDR)

DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR

INTERNATIONALE ZUSAMMENARBEIT (GIZ) GMBH

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING COMMISSION

COPENHAGEN CONSENSUS CENTER

© 2020 Copenhagen Consensus Center
info@copenhagenconsensus.com
www.copenhagenconsensus.com

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 PRELIMINARY DRAFT AS OF MAY 18, 2020

The operationalization of the dLRev

software for improved revenue mobilization
at local government level: a cost-benefit
analysis

Ghana Priorities

Governance For Inclusive Development / Support for Decentralisation Reforms

(SfDR),

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Copenhagen Consensus Center

Academic Abstract
Revenue mobilization and management are critical to local government service delivery.
Whereas traditional practices emphasized personal interactions and manual record-
keeping, geospatial data, internet and information networks have the power to streamline
these municipal processes. In this paper, we conduct a cost-benefit analysis of a web-based
application that facilitates digital billing, collection and data management of property taxes
at the municipal level in Ghana. Based on analysis of data before and after the introduction
of the system, results indicate as much as a 57% drop in the number of days to issue demand
notices or pay rates, a time savings for both local government and compliant ratepayers.
The efficiency benefits of expanding the software to other municipalities, including
training and technical accompaniment, far outweigh the costs by a factor of 9.

Key Words: local government, revenue mobilization, digitization

I
Policy Abstract
The Problem
A key indicator of successful decentralization processes is the ability of local governments
to generate their own income. Although Ghana’s fiscal decentralization framework allows
for fiscal autonomy of local governments, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District
Assemblies (MMDAs) still depend principally on central government transfers to fund
their development. Despite their jurisdictional advantage, MMDAs only generate, on
average, approximately 20 percent of their total budget from their own sources, known as
Internally Generated Funds (IGF).

MMDAs have important planning and coordination functions, as well as the responsibility
for infrastructure and service delivery in key sectors: waste management, transport, roads,
housing, disaster prevention, births and deaths, among others (World Bank, 2018). Before
the introduction of dLRev, most assemblies issued demand notices to clients for the
payment of the rates, rents and other bills. The majority of these were not computerized
but hand-written bills. As most buildings were not numbered, even the distribution of the
bills posed a major challenge to the MMDA’s revenue collectors. In some MMDAs the
billing was decentralized; that is, sub-districts printed their own bills and issued them to
taxpayers. This caused a lot of leakages.

There have also been regulatory and monitoring challenges associated with the practice of
outsourcing revenue collection. MMDAs have raised concerns about the proprietary nature
of the data collected, the extent to which they can monitor and sanction service providers,
the modalities for procurement, among others.

Finally, there was (and still is) no legal backing for the policies and procedures to guide
the MMDA management in the outsourcing process, including the selection of revenue
sources to be outsourced and those to be collected "in-house" by the MMDA.

Despite these challenges, the efficient taxation of properties within their respective
jurisdictions is a huge untapped potential to increase local governments’ IGF.

II
Intervention 1: The Implementation of dLRev management
software in a model MMDA in Ghana
Overview
The dLRev is a web-based application with a digital address map (local plan) of a district
produced using a geographic information system. The local plan has a spatial database and
with a corresponding fiscal cadastre of revenue items, the software is used to manage data,
billing, and collection. The software is currently set-up for property rates and business
operating permits, but also provides for other revenue items namely rents (district
infrastructure given for public use such as market sheds, stalls and stores), fees (for use of
market grounds and lorry parks), fines (for flouting by-laws of the local authority) and
investment (investment in securities). The application was funded by GIZ, who also
partake in some of the implementation activities with government. A historical overview
of the development of the dLRev software can be found in Appendix 1.

In January 2020, the GovID programme and the Copenhagen Consensus Center agreed to
conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the deployment of the dLRev revenue management
software in 9 MMDAs in Ghana, which used the dLRev software in the fiscal year 2019.

These are:

Central Region: Agona West Municipal Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan

Assembly, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) Municipal
Assembly
Eastern Region: Suhum Municipal Assembly
Greater Accra: Adenta Municipal Assembly, Ga South Municipal Assembly
Western Region: Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District Assembly, Shama District
Assembly, Prestea Huni - Valley District Assembly
Intervention
While fifty-two MMDAS (52) were set-up on the dLRev platform by the end of 2019, nine
(9) municipalities have been using the dLRev software throughout the year 2019 to collect
rates for both properties and businesses. The intervention proposed here is to use the cost
and revenue data obtained from those nine (9) municipalities in order to estimate the costs
and benefits of implementing the dLRev software in a model MMDA.

The model MMDA is essentially a weighted average of the contributing municipalities; the
weight based on their respective population sizes of the total population served throughout

III
the sample, with the assumption that the number of properties and businesses are
proportional to population.

The parameters used for the model MMDA are as follows:

Parameter Value

No., data collectors 20

Annual revenue, pre-dLRev, GHS 3.0

million

Annual revenue, post-dLRev, GHS 4.7

million

Annual revenue growth rate 54.5%

No., properties 9,956

The intervention is analysed over four years: the first year consisting of implementation
activities (i.e. acquisition of equipment and training) and three subsequent years of revenue
collection. After which, it is assumed some hardware would require maintenance or
replacement.

Costs and Benefits

Costs
The dLRev is an open-source data tracking and revenue collection software and is free to
use. There are several pre-conditions to be satisfied in order to qualify for the dLRev
software. These pre-conditions include aerial imagery for spatial databases, street-naming
and property addressing, property valuation, and fee-fixing.

The cost components for the implementation of the dLRev management software are listed
below, by activity:

1. Uploading local plan to dLRev server

2. Data collection

To keep the cost of data collection at a minimum, data collection teams usually include
National Service personnel, Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and salaried district
assembly staff. This process is facilitated by the GIZ programme’s regional advisors.

IV
Training for the fieldworkers is either executed by GIZ staff or consultants. During the
training, the district teams (fieldworkers and district staff) are provided with user
credentials to use the Data Collection App for data collection.

1. Uploading of new data/quality checks

2. Training of dLRev Management Team

This team comprises a Management Information System (MIS) Officer, Physical Planning
Officer (PPO), Finance Officer, Budget Analyst and Coordinating Director. The GIZ team
assigns individual user credentials to the members of the dLRev team and revenue
collectors to use the system for their operations.

1. Hardware costs

2. Internet costs

3. Revenue collector training and revenue collection

The GIZ technical team visits the MMDA to provide user training to the dLRev-team for
two or three days depending on their ability to grasp the operation of the system. The
revenue collectors from those districts are also given a specific training on the distribution
of bills (demand notices).

1. Printing of demand notices

Once an MMDA is fully setup, a new, very important and intensive phase of support
begins. With printing of the demand notices (bills), and the distribution of bills, MMDA
needs to change their practices of revenue management. To support the regional advisors
in guiding MMDAs through this change management process, GIZ deploys consultants for
several days to assist new MMDA using dLRev.

V
 Distribution of costs over the intervention period, GHS

Activities Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4

Uploading local plan to dLRev server 6

Data collection 22,000 40 40 40

Uploading of new data/quality checks 6 7 7 7

Training of dLRev Management Team 79,200 67,900 70,400 72,900

Hardware costs 9,100

Internet costs 1,500 1,200 1,200 1,200

Revenue collector training 12,200 11,300 11,300 11,300

Printing of demand notices 22,800 49,800 49,800 49,800

Total costs 146,900 130,200 132,700 135,200

Total discounted costs (8%) are GHS 488,600 for a single MMDA.

Benefits
The anticipated benefits of digitizing revenue mobilization and management are:

Reduction in the cost of data collection

The data collection process, the identification of business and property ratepayers, was
completely manual and not comprehensive, given the lack of geospatial data and
addressing. The annual activity lasted approximately 120 man-days per 10,000 parcels.
Providing a mobile app, the dLRev management software has reduced this to 20 man-days
per 10,000 parcels. The data collectors now undergo training and use tablets to upload new
information immediately to the local map.

Efficiency gains from issuing demand notices

The efficiency gains in issuing demand notices emanates from the faster printing and
distribution of bills and was measured by the number of man-days it takes revenue
collectors to distribute the bills, which decreased from 25 days to 2 for the municipality.
The municipalities in the sample ranged from 15 to as many as 80 days to issue demand
notices, prior to dLRev implementation.

VI
Efficiency gains from paying collectors
There was also a reduction in the time it takes to prepare the paperwork to pay revenue
collectors, which ranged from 20 to 80 days (weighted average 40) in the municipalities
prior to dLRev and dropped to a range of 10 to 20 days (weighted average 17). In the model
MMDA, it is an efficiency gain of 23 days for the municipality.

Increase in revenues
This benefit relates to better coverage of the tax base; that is, an increase in the number of
ratepayers and an increase in the rate of compliance. The weighted average growth rate of
revenue collected in the year after implementation of dLRev is 54%.

Benefits not captured

There are a few benefits that could not be readily measured at the time of this analysis. The
widening of the tax base is one source of the increase in revenues. That is, because of the
lack of mapping and addressing, there were ratepayers who were unknown to the
municipality and have now been captured by the geodatabase. There is however a subgroup
of pre-existing registered ratepayers, who, even after having received demand notices,
failed to pay. This has been estimated to be as high as 30% (Dzansi et al., 2018). In order
to identify this group, an accounting of the number of demand notices sent pre-intervention
against the number of compliant ratepayers would have been needed.

Another benefit that has not been captured is the reduction in the time to process payments.
The average time of 2 days remains the same. Processing time is the time from the moment
when the revenue (e.g. property rate) has been collected, until the payment has been made
into the MMDA’s bank account (including accounting / registration at the Finance
department,). As the revenue collection process in all MMDAs was still “conventional” in
2019, there was no change in the processing time. With the introduction of fully
automatized mobile / instant payments into the transaction management of dLRev in 2020,
a significant reduction of processing time is expected. Automatizing the transaction
management process will further reduce potential leakages.

VII
 Distribution of benefits over intervention period, GHS

Benefits Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4

Reduction, data collection cost 100 100 100

Efficiency gains, issuing demand notices 1,100 1,200 1,200

Efficiency gains, paying collectors 12,400 12,400 12,400

Increase in revenues 1,648,600 1,648,600 1,648,600

Total benefits 1,667,100 1,667,300 1,667,600

Total discounted benefits (8%) are GHS 4.3 million, with the vast majority of the benefit
coming from increased revenues.

BCR Summary Table

Interventions Benefit Cost BCR Quality of
Evidence

Digitized tax 4,296,800 488,600 8.8 Strong

collection for
a single
MMDA
Notes: All figures assume an 8% discount rate

VIII
1. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF GHANA’S EXPERIENCE WITH ICT IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ................................... 2
1.1.1 Digitization efforts at local government level..................................................................................................... 3
1.2 GIZ SUPPORT TO DECENTRALIZATION REFORMS ........................................................................................................ 4
1.3 DOMESTIC REVENUE COLLECTION PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DLREV SOFTWARE ............................... 5

2. THE INTRODUCTION AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE DLREV SOFTWARE .......................... 9

2.1 INTRODUCTION OF DLREV SOFTWARE ........................................................................................................................ 9

2.1.1 Preconditions to using the dLRev software .......................................................................................................... 9
2.1.2 dLRev Implementation process................................................................................................................................ 11
2.1.3 Current status of districts on dLRev ...................................................................................................................... 13

3 CALCULATION OF COSTS AND BENEFITS .............................................................................................. 15

3.1 DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION ...............................................................................................................................15

3.2 COSTS ...........................................................................................................................................................................15
3.3 BENEFITS .....................................................................................................................................................................19
3.3.1 Reduction in the cost of data collection .............................................................................................................. 19
3.3.2 Efficiency gains from issuing demand notices ................................................................................................. 19
3.3.3 Efficiency gains from paying collectors ............................................................................................................... 20
3.3.4 Increase in revenues ...................................................................................................................................................... 20
3.3.5 Benefits not captured.................................................................................................................................................... 20
3.4 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................................21

4. BCR SUMMARY TABLE............................................................................................................................... 22

5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 23

6. APPENDIX 1 OVERVIEW: DLREV SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ...................................................... 24

7. APPENDIX 2 SHORT PROFILES OF THE SELECTED MMDAS ........................................................... 25

IX
1. Introduction
A key indicator of successful decentralization processes is the ability of local governments
to generate their own income. Although Ghana’s fiscal decentralization framework allows
for fiscal autonomy of local governments, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District
Assemblies (MMDAs) still depend principally on central government transfers to fund
their development. Despite this jurisdictional advantage, MMDAs only generate, on
average, approximately 20 percent of their total budget from their own sources, known as
Internally Generated Funds (IGF).

A typical case is that of the Asante Akim South District Assembly, as presented by
Akudugu and Pepprah (2013). From 2001 to 2004, the period under study, IGF did not
surpass 25% of total revenue. They identified poor collection methods as one of the reasons
for the low level of internally generated funds; i.e. the misapplication of revenue tickets;
the use of one receipt book to issue tickets to different revenue sources such as market
stores, lorry parks, drinking bars; the irregular issuing of revenue tickets, sometimes
monthly, other times, daily. The reporting system was also identified as contributing to the
fluctuations of the revenue sources: revenue collectors committed errors in reporting, and
they were also not compelled to report regularly. Related to the poor reporting system was
the high level of illiteracy among the commission collectors.

Local government in Ghana is made up of three types of MMDA (Metropolitan, Municipal

and District Assemblies): (a) District Assemblies (DAs), minimum population of 75,000
people (b) Municipal Assemblies (MAs), 95,000 people and (c) Metropolitan Assemblies
(Metros), 250,000 people. In total, there are currently 260 MMDAs: 145 DAs, 109 MAs
and 6 Metros. MMDAs have important planning and coordination functions, as well as
being responsible for infrastructure and service delivery in key sectors: waste management,
transport, roads, housing, disaster prevention, births and deaths, among others (World
Bank, 2018).

Digital products and software can help local government to improve its revenue collection
processes and boost IGF. This paper investigates the costs and benefits of digitizing such
processes for a representative, ‘model’ MMDA. The data used for this analysis comes from
a GIZ-implemented program that assisted MMDAs in overhauling the collection process
that led to efficiency improvements and a large 54% jump in revenue. The analysis
indicates that over four years, the costs of the intervention are around GHS 488,600, for a

1
representative MMDA, most of which comes with the installation of a revenue
management team and the printing of demand notices for newly mapped properties. The
cost is more than offset by an estimated benefit of GHS 4.3 million. Most of the benefit is
the increase in legally paid rates and fees. The benefit-cost ratio is estimated at 9.

1.1 Historical overview of Ghana’s experience with ICT in

public administration
Osei Kojo (2017) gives a thorough recounting of the Government of Ghana’s experiences
with integrating information technology in public service provision. In 2000, the then
Ministry of Communications and Technology was established to champion the e-
government revolution in Ghana, by developing a robust telecommunications
infrastructure and providing e-government services. One early initiative was the Ghana
Community Network (GCNet) system, launched in 2000 as part of a larger plan to establish
the country as a transit hub for landlocked countries in West Africa. It entailed among other
things the digitization of port operations and eventually spread to other public services like
the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS). The Ghana e-
government strategy was released in 2005, and, in 2006, all e-government efforts were
merged under the e-Ghana project, which focused on three components: creating an overall
enabling environment; attracting IT-enabled services, such as Business Process
Outsourcing, promoting the development of local ICT business; achieving greater
efficiency, transparency, and accountability in selected government ministries, department,
and agencies. To streamline implementation of e‐government projects, government
established the Ghana Information, Communication and Technological Directorate, which
metamorphosed into the National Information Technology Agency in 2009, as the national
e-government implementation and coordination body.

The adoption and implementation of e-government was expected to improve the quality of
public service in Ghana. Despite these efforts, of the 260 MMDAs in Ghana, only 33%
have an electronic database for either businesses or properties; 17.8% use software to send
bills/demand notices; 16% use a software for maintaining and updating valuation lists and
41% use a software for maintaining and updating street names and addresses (Dzansi et al.,
2018). On average, 21.4% of total revenues in 2016 were internally generated by MMDAs
(World Bank, 2018).

2
1.1.1 Digitization efforts at local government level
There have been several efforts in recent years to marry information technology with
revenue collection and service delivery. Examples include:

• In 2013, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly extended the use of Point of Sale
devices to cover all revenue collection in all sections of the AMA. They
experienced a 10.3% increase in IGF in the following financial year (Adu et al,
2020).

• Cangiano et al. (2017) discuss Ghana’s e-Zwich biometric payment system, which
facilitates digital payments without full or reliable internet connectivity. It was
implemented to address both the existence of government ghost workers and the
prevalence of cash-based payments across the economy. In its rollout, the service
was extended to large employers, and it was anticipated that it would strengthen tax
administration by ensuring that a greater number of formal sector employees would
see their wages and salaries being paid into digital accounts. E-Zwich has been a
mixed success. Transactions went up from 2.2 million in 2014 to 5.3 million in
2016 as its usage increased to pay beneficiaries of public programs, but initial plans
to pay all public salaries have encountered opposition, particularly from Ghana’s
public sector unions.

• The use of GIS to build a geodatabase and cartographic visualization of existing

water and sanitation facilities in Aboabo, Kumasi, Ghana. The outputs were used
to develop cartographic and mathematical models to analyse, predict and visualize
the effect of population increase on public water and sewage facilities in this
densely populated area. This provides an efficient and effective means of mitigating
water-borne diseases and informs planners and assembly members of the effects of
increasing population on public facilities (Quaye-Ballard and Ru, 2010).

• The Port of Tema receives an average of over 1,650 vessels calls per year. Import
clearance at the port involves interactions between port authorities, clearing agents
(working on behalf of the importer) and customs, and these processes were largely
manual. The Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet), is a joint
venture (PPP) to provide e-Solutions to the Government, developed and deployed
the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) for clearing of goods at ports.

3
 In collaboration with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority
(GRA), GCNet deployed the paperless clearing system at the Tema Port. Prior to
digitalization, import clearance was time-consuming, burdensome and prone to
petty and arbitrary charges. The system now ensures a secure and seamless
electronic process of documents to promote paperless transactions to deepen the
Single Window concept, reducing clearance time from three weeks to at most three
days (Amankwah-Sarfo et al., 2018).

1.2 GIZ support to decentralization reforms

The efficient taxation of properties within their respective jurisdictions is a huge untapped
potential to increase local governments’ IGF. Between 2014 and 2016, the GIZ
implemented Support for Decentralization Reforms (SfDR) programme supported 40
partner districts in all regions of Ghana in cooperation with the Ministry of Local
Governance and Rural Development (MLGRD) to implement the national Street Naming
and Property Addressing (SNPA) guidelines to facilitate the establishment of a cadastre
system and help MMDAs to generate their own funds through the use of the dLRev
software. Between 2016 and 2019, the SfDR programme with additional funds from
USAID and Global Affairs Canada (GAC) continued the support with additional 20
MMDAs. In 2019, with support from Switzerland, the GIZ implemented Good Financial
Governance programme, which supported 27 additional districts in adopting the dLRev
software. 3 MMDAS introduced dLRev without support.

Since September 2019, the GIZ implemented Governance for Inclusive Development
(GovID) programme continues the support for 90 MMDAs to improve their domestic
revenue with the dLRev software. The Government of Ghana states in the 2020 National
Budget that 83 MMDAs will introduce the dLRev software. Currently, 52 MMDAs are
preparing their bills for property rates and business operating permits with dLRev, whilst
38 are at various stages of the SNPA and data collection processes.

In January 2020, the GovID programme and the Copenhagen Consensus Center agreed to
conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the deployment of the dLRev revenue management
software in 9 MMDAs in Ghana, which used the dLRev software in the fiscal year 2019.

4
These are:

Central Region: Agona West Municipal Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan

Assembly, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) Municipal
Assembly
Eastern Region: Suhum Municipal Assembly
Greater Accra: Adenta Municipal Assembly, Ga South Municipal Assembly
Western Region: Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District Assembly, Shama District
Assembly, Prestea Huni - Valley District Assembly

1.3 Domestic revenue collection prior to the introduction of the

dLRev software
In line with Sections 137-169 of the Local Governance Act (LGA) 2016 (Act 936) amongst
others (such as financial memoranda), the items that local governments were - and still are
- able to levy are grouped into six main areas, Rates, Lands, Fees and Fines, Business
Operating Permits (BOP), Rent and Investment.

Table 1: Sources of revenue, available to MMDAs, by type

Revenue Source Description

Rates Basic rate levied on individuals above 18 years of age, property rate
on immovable properties, and rates on cattle and bicycles, (prevalent
in the Northern regions)
Lands Revenues associated with land use involving natural resource
exploitation, for examples stool lands, building permits, royalties,
concessions and cemetery fees.
Fees and Fines Fees are charges for public services or places, e.g. market tolls, fees
for marriages and divorces, waste management services,
slaughterhouses, on-street parking and public toilets.
Fines are penalties paid for non-compliance with assembly by-laws
e.g. stray animals, parking restrictions and floating building
regulations.
Business Operating Levies on businesses operating in the local government jurisdiction.
Permits (BOP) The range of items depends on the extent of economic activity
sophistication within a district.
Rent Charges for use of MMDA owned assets, e.g. residential
accommodation, market stores and stalls, classrooms, lorry parks and
billboards.
Investment Income in the form of interests, dividends and properties acquired by
the MMDA for hiring purposes.

5
Already before the introduction of dLRev, most assemblies issued demand notices to
clients for the payment of the rates, rents and other bills. The majority of these were not
computerised but hand-written bills. As most buildings were not numbered, even the
distribution of the bills posed a major challenge to the MMDA’s revenue collectors. In
some MMDAs, the billing was decentralised; that is, sub-districts printed their own bills
and issued them to taxpayers. This caused a lot of leakages.

The MMDAs used a mix of commissioned collectors, salaried collectors, and private
collectors to collect revenue from their clients.

• Salaried collectors are on government payroll,

• Commissioned collectors get a commission, commonly around 20% of the takings,

• Private collectors are usually companies given the responsibility to collect from
institutions and companies for a commission of commonly 30% of the takings, e.g.
from telecom companies, financial institutions and filling stations. Some MMDAs
also go into partnership with stakeholders like the Ghana Private Road Transport
Union to collect fees from their members on their behalf for a fee.

6
 Table 2. Description of billing and administration of revenue collection, by MMDA
under analysis

MMDA Billing approach Administration of Revenue Collection

Suhum Hand-written bills 23 revenue collectors: 12 salaried collectors and 11
and demand commissioned Collectors (20% commission).
notices Institutional collection: private company (30 %
commission)
Adenta N/A N/A
Ga South Hand-written bills 48 collectors: 19 salaried collectors and 29
and demand commissioned collectors.
notices
Agona West Hand-written bills 56 collectors: 26 salaried collectors and 30
and demand commissioned collectors. Institutional collection: 2
notices private companies (30% commission).
Cape Coast Hand-written bills 33 collectors: 15 salaried collectors and 18
and demand commissioned collectors. Institutional collection by
notices private company (25% commission years 1-2; 20%
years 3-4, 15% fifth year and beyond)
K.E.E.A. Property rate bills 37 collectors: 17 salaried (management of the GCR)
generated and 20 Commissioned Collectors (responsible for
electronically, BOP ticketing). Institutional collection: private company
manually (30% commission).
Bibiani/Anhwias Hand-written bills 16 collectors: 5 salaried collectors and 11
o/Bekwai and demand commissioned collectors.
notices
Prestea Huni - Hand-written bills 18 collectors: 8 salaried collectors and 10
Valley and demand commissioned collectors.
notices
Shama Hand-written bills 17 collectors: 1 salaried collector and 16
and demand commissioned collectors.
notices
Source: GOPA Revenue Landscape Assessment (2013) and SfDR Baseline Survey (2016).
N/A: not available

The use of information technology by private companies was already a common practice
around 2012. For example, the Agona West District Assembly introduced technology to
facilitate the billing, and collection of revenue, via Optimum Revenue Solutions. To
enhance their work, commissioned collectors were equipped with handheld devices to be
used in issuing tickets to their clients. It was assumed that the use of technology would
reduce leakages and promote accountability. However, the low level of education among
revenue collectors hampered the effective use of the device.

7
There have been regulatory and monitoring challenges associated with the practice of
outsourcing revenue collection. MMDAs have raised concerns about the proprietary nature
of the data collected, the extent to which they can monitor and sanction service providers,
the modalities for procurement, among others.

Far from rewarding, where revenue collection has been outsourced, mutual revenue targets
were not met, and questions were raised about the ownership of the revenue data. In 2013,
Cape Coast faced a major challenge with regards to the database is its ownership. The
database was built as a public-private partnership between the Assembly and a private
company (RevNet). Alarmingly, the municipality did not have access to the database and
the data used by RevNet. As a result, updating of the data was not possible, with the
municipality having no back-up of the database.

Finally, there were (and still are) no documented policies and procedures in place to guide
the MMDA management in the outsourcing process, including the selection of revenue
sources to be outsourced and those to be collected "in-house" by the MMDA.

Revenue services outsourced to the private companies comprised a wide range of sources
including property rates, business operating licenses, lorry park and market tolls. In
addition to collection, outsourced revenue companies were engaged in other related
functions such as data collection in respect of ratepayers and rate payer database
management. The MMDAs used various processes in contracting the services of
outsourced revenue collectors. The main ones included sole sourcing, limited invitation,
national competitive tendering and “unsolicited” proposals. The general procurement and
tendering processes in most of the cases appeared to be shrouded in secrecy.

In a rather large survey by Dzansi et al. (2018), the common reasons most MMDAs gave
for the outsourcing of revenue collection were proximity of external collectors to
ratepayers; external collectors had more information about the area, and the lack of
requisite skill and personnel internally. Out of the 189 MMDAs, who hire the services of
external collectors to aid in internal revenue mobilisation, approximately 35 percent of
them indicated they engage external collectors due to the nearness of external collectors to
ratepayers, the comparative advantage external collectors has over information of the area
and lastly the lack of requisite personnel and skill of salaried revenue collectors. Further
reasons were less resistance from ratepayers when external collectors are used, better
accountability from external collectors and concerns of leakages by salaried collectors.

8
2. The introduction and operationalization of the dLRev
software
2.1 Introduction of dLRev software
The dLRev is a web-based application with a digital address map (local plan) of a district
produced using a geographic information system. The local plan has a spatial database, and
with a corresponding fiscal cadastre of revenue items, the software is used to manage data,
billing, and collection. The software is currently set-up for property rates and business
operating permits, but also provides for other revenue items namely rents (district
infrastructure given for public use such as market sheds, stalls and stores), fees (for use of
market grounds and lorry parks), fines (for flouting by-laws of the local authority) and
investment (investment in securities). A historical overview of the development of the
dLRev software can be found in Appendix 1.

2.1.1 Preconditions to using the dLRev software

Spatial databases/Street Naming and Property Addressing (SNPA)
Ghana adopted the Street Naming and Property Addressing (SNPA) Policy in 2012. Since
then, all MMDAS in Ghana are expected to provide street names and house numbers to all
settlements in their jurisdiction, and even more, develop digital address maps and local
plans using a software called Land Use and Planning Management Information System
(LUPMIS).

Technically, the link between a parcel of land and its revenue data is the Unique Parcel
Number (UPN). The number is assigned on the address map at the end of the Street Naming
and Property Addressing (SNPA) process. Completing the SNPA process is a prerequisite
for the use of dLRev because districts in Ghana do not have accurate address maps, or often
none for settlements in their jurisdiction. Thus, for many settlements, street names and
house numbers do not exist.

In the absence of an accurate address map or local plan, the SNPA process begins with the
support of the inauguration of a Street Addressing Team (SAT) and the provision of spatial
data, either as a satellite image (produced by satellite) or as an ortho-photo (captured by a
plane) or captured locally using a drone. Satellite images often have issues with cloud
coverage, which makes digitization difficult but are slightly cheaper than the photos. Also,
images which are current may be more expensive than archived ones, which is one reason

9
why many districts did not start the SNPA process even though the policy was already
adopted in 2012. Drone photos often show distortions due to the lower altitude at which
they are captured. In many districts therefore, a mix of spatial data is used to create digital
local plans.

Valuation of Properties
For official rating purposes, MMDAs require to keep their valuation rolls up to date. This
is important for the collection of the property rate, as the rate depends on the value of the
property, in addition to registering the owners and the type of use. The sole legal mandate
for valuation for official rating purposes lies with the Lands Valuation Division (LVD) of
the Lands Commission. The lack of assessment of the property values has led to a situation
where although it constitutes huge revenue potential, it remains one of the least exploited.

LVD has introduced a digital approach to valuation which reduces the cost by about half
and the duration from six months to three. The output of a valuation exercise is called the
valuation roll. With the digital approach, valuation becomes more sustainable, since it
eliminates the execution of revaluation exercises for entire settlements as has been done in
the past, to only executing valuation for new developments and executing mass appraisals
as and when required.

GIZ has collaborated with LVD to address the first critical challenge of its partner districts.
This is where SNPA spatial database is available and a digital valuation roll has also been
prepared but are not linked as databases. A script has been prepared for LVD to merge the
two data sets to produce a common geographical reference for use by the dLRev software.
The development of the script was funded in 2018, when partner districts such as Tema
Metropolitan Assembly, Ga South Municipal Assembly and Ga East Municipal Assembly
had executed valuation from a pilot initiative by LVD. This effort by SfDR now affords to
produce a valuation list linked to the geographical reference of the SNPA’s spatial
database, which is the UPN. This effort does not only make it easy for districts to use the
valuation roll for their IGF operations but presents the opportunity for the valuation data
to be used for rental tax by the Ghana Revenue Authority.

However, with the limited coverage of valuation across the country, setting up a valuation
cadastre requires labour and cost intensive investment. Therefore, valuation as important
as it is to revenue generation, most MMDAs are unable to fund the cost of valuing their
properties for property rate collection. Based on the initial pilot executed by LVD in some

10
selected partner districts and the revenue return, SfDR started intense discussions with
LVD and MLGRD to explore potential support for partner districts in the valuation of
properties. Based on these discussions, SfDR negotiated an agreement with LVD and
MLGRD to support the 49 MMDAs performing best in the introduction of dLRev with
valuation in 2020.

Fixing Resolution
The Fee Fixing Guideline was developed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development in 2017 as an outcome of the collaboration between the ministry and the GIZ-
implemented Support for Decentralisation Reforms Programme (SfDR). Prior to the
publication of the guideline, items, fees and procedures were not harmonised. Furthermore,
not all FFRs were gazetted regularly. According to the GOPA Revenue Landscape
Assessment (2013), only 6 out of 11 assessed assemblies had gazetted their FFRs for the
2011 and 2012 financial years (including Suhum and Agona West). The cost of gazetting
ranged from GHC 1,500 to GHC 6,000, and the time it took to gazette the FFR ranged from
two weeks to several months, depending on the willingness of the assembly to follow up.
The recognition that gazetting the FFR allows the assemblies to take legal action against
defaulters and to have legal backing to charge the levies were the motivating factors.

Tracking system, enforcement, participation

The assemblies used a mix of methods to track the billing and payment processes. This
includes surprise checks on the collections in their electoral areas. Others have adopted
zoning to track bills distribution and collection in larger communities to ensure that specific
collectors are held responsible for IGF issues in those locations. However, as earlier
mentioned the non-availability of the data has rendered tracking weak.

2.1.2 dLRev Implementation process

The following is an outline of the implementation process:

Uploading of local plan

For the digitization exercise, districts use the Land Use Planning and Management
Information System (LUPMIS) which has Map-Maker Pro and Quantum GIS as tools for
digitizing ortho-photos and satellite images. LUPMIS is an official tool of Ghana’s Land
Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) for development and management of spatial
plans. Post-acquisition of the satellite images and ortho-photos, support was provided to
the partner districts during the ground-truthing exercise, which involved verification of the

11
imagery and the digitised local plan on the ground to establish parcel, access boundaries
and entry ways. Once the local plan was digitized, street names and house numbers were
assigned and Unique Parcel Number (UPN) were generated for the parcels using the
LUPMIS software.

Data Collection on businesses and properties

After the successful upload of the local plan onto the dLRev server, the next step is to
prepare for the data collection. The critical output of the data collection is to develop a
fiscal cadastre for businesses (owner, type, activity description and location of business)
and properties (owner, type, location and number of rooms of the building) using the spatial
database developed during the SNPA exercise.

Until 2017, the data collection on businesses and properties was organised as a manual
process, that is paper-based questionnaires were hand-filled in the field and digitised using
professional document scanners. This process was prone to errors. For example,
questionnaires had a unique barcode to aid optical character recognition scanning. But
often, MMDAs photocopied the questionnaires, which made scanning impossible. Manual
data entry often led to typographical errors and long periods of processing.

As primary data collection led often to delays, districts were supported in the interim in
2018 to access existing secondary data to speed up the process of setting up fiscal cadastre
for businesses using the Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) Registers
developed by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) or process legacy data on properties to
develop fiscal cadastre for properties. However, linking the secondary data to the UPNs
turned out to be a time-consuming process.

Following a series of testing of the Data Collection Application (App), its full-scale use
started in mid-2018. MMDAs with GIS-based local plans can have it uploaded on the
dLRev software, receive user credentials for their field staff and gather relevant fiscal data
for use directly on dLRev. Data is uploaded first on the test server for quality control,
before it is uploaded to the dLRev production server. To accelerate the data collection, GIZ
procured 160 tablets provided as a pool for data collection under the supervision of the
programme’s regional advisors. Alternatively, mobile phones or other mobile devices can
be used for the data collection.

12
The development of a Data Collection Application (App) as part of the dLRev software
established the basis for using a digital approach to address the challenges that have
confronted data gathering in the past. The introduction of the Data Collection App has led
to a significant acceleration of the data collection process from the previous questionnaires
and scanning based approach which took about four months to complete for 10,000 parcels
to about 20 days for the same number of parcels, using less fieldworkers. This marked
reduction in the time spent in managing the data collection exercise has been due to the
elimination of the testing of printed questionnaires, scanning and editing of scanned data,
which slowed down the processes of setting up the fiscal cadastre in the past.

Fee Fixing
The data collection is aided by the fee-fixing module introduced in the dLRev in 2018
using the national guidelines launched in 2017. To ensure that districts are well prepared
to use the fee fixing module, support was provided to the partner districts to reformat their
fee-fixing resolution (price list for local revenue items) for dLRev upload.

Combined with the Data Collection App, more districts can set-up their fiscal cadastre
within a shorter period once they developed their local plan and reformat their fee fixing
items in line with the national Fee Fixing Guidelines.

Upload on production server

Once all data is uploaded on the test server in the form the local plan, fiscal data (business
and property) and amounts to be charged, it is quality checked and subsequently transferred
to the production server.

There are functionalities to upload the signature of the authorizing officer and the logo of
the district on the production server. With all these done, an MMDA is set-up and ready to
print bills with dLRev.

The Revenue Collection App has been developed for android devices. Development of the
Revenue Collection App started in 2018 and is ready for use since 2019. It allows revenue
collectors to capture revenues on the spot. It can work fully offline and therefore enables
revenue collection in areas with poor internet coverage.

2.1.3 Current status of districts on dLRev

Sixty of the 90 partner districts have their spatial data set-up. Of the 60, a total of 49
MMDAs has formatted their Fee Fixing Resolution unto the system. In addition, 45 of the

13
60 MMDAs have businesses to charge rates and 49 have properties to collect property rates
registered in dLRev.

Table 3 Status of MMDAs participating in the GIZ support programme

Status of districts in the set-up of dLRev processes No. of Districts

Districts with spatial data 60

Districts with Fee Fixing information on Business 49

Districts with Fee Fixing information for Properties 49

Districts with registered businesses for collection of BOP 45

Districts with registered properties for collection of rates 47

Source: dLRev software, February 2020

During 2019, the following MMDAs were already using dLRev. Brief profiles of each
MMDA can be found in Appendix 2.

Table 4 MMDAs currently running the dLRev management software

Districts using dLRev in 2019

Central Agona West Municipal Assembly

Central Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly

Central Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipal Assembly

Eastern Suhum Municipal Assembly

Greater Accra Adenta Municipal Assembly

Greater Accra Ga South Municipal Assembly

Western Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bewai District Assembly

Western Shama District Assembly

Western Prestea Huni - Valley District Assembly

14
3 Calculation of Costs and Benefits
3.1 Description of intervention
Nine (9) municipalities have been using the dLRev software, for both properties and
businesses. The intervention proposed here is to use the cost and revenue data obtained
from those municipalities in order to estimate the costs and benefits of implementing the
dLRev software in a model MMDA.

The model MMDA is essentially a weighted average of the contributing municipalities; the
weight based on their respective population sizes of the total population served throughout
the sample, with the assumption that the number of properties and businesses are
proportional to population.

The parameters used for the model MMDA are as follows:

Table 5 Model MMDA parameters

Parameter Value

No., data collectors 20

Annual revenue, pre-dLRev, GHS 3.0

million

Annual revenue, post-dLRev, GHS 4.7

million

Post intervention boost to revenue (%) 54.5%

No., properties 9956

The intervention is analysed over four years: the first year consisting of implementation
activities (i.e. acquisition of equipment and trainings) and three subsequent years of
revenue collection. After which, it is assumed some hardware would require maintenance
or replacement.

3.2 Costs
The dLRev is an open-source data tracking and revenue collection software and is free to
use. As noted above, there are several pre-conditions to be satisfied in order to qualify for
the dLRev software. These pre-conditions are part of the regulatory framework that guide

15
municipality operations, and thus are not included among the marginal costs of integrating
and operationalizing the software. They include aerial imagery for spatial databases, street-
naming and property addressing, property valuation, and fee-fixing.

The cost components for the implementation of the dLRev management software are listed
below, by activity:

• Uploading local plan to dLRev server

• Data collection

To keep the cost of data collection at a minimum, data collection teams usually include
National Service personnel, Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and salaried district
assembly staff. This process is facilitated by the GIZ programme’s regional advisors. A
training for the fieldworkers is either executed by GIZ staff or consultants. During the
training, the district teams (fieldworkers and district staff) are provided with user
credentials to use the Data Collection App for data collection.

• Uploading of new data/quality checks

• Training of dLRev Management Team

This team comprises a Management Information System (MIS) Officer, Physical Planning
Officer (PPO), Finance Officer, Budget Analyst and Coordinating Director. The GIZ team
assigns individual user credentials to the members of the dLRev team and revenue
collectors to use the system for their operations.

• Hardware costs

• Internet costs

• Revenue collector training and revenue collection

Most MMDAs were already engaged in revenue collection, prior to dLRev

implementation. In general, the vast majority of collectors working on commission will be
retained, as they are considered indispensable. The weighted average number of
commissioned collectors among the participating municipalities was estimated to be 22,
but the expenses associated with their wage bill is considered part of the counterfactual.
Furthermore, it is assumed here that the same number of revenue collectors will be needed,

16
at least in the short-run, to undertake what was previously a sub-optimal collection from
businesses and properties.

Regarding technical accompaniment, the GIZ technical team visits the MMDA to provide
user training to the dLRev-team for two or three days depending on their ability to grasp
the operation of the system. The revenue collectors from those districts are also given a
specific training on the distribution of bills (demand notices).

• Printing of demand notices

Once an MMDA is fully set up, a new, very important and intensive phase of support
begins. With printing of the demand notices (bills), and the distribution of bills, MMDA
needs to change their practices of revenue management. To support the regional advisors
in guiding MMDAs through this change management process, GIZ deploys consultants for
several days to assist new MMDA using dLRev.

17
 Table 6 Itemized costs for the set-up and use of dLRev

Item Description Cost

Software for digitization
Hardware for digitization
Hardware for data collection
Internet (bandwidth) for data
collection
Hardware for dLRev use
Internet (hardware) for dLRev Many MMDAs do not have
Use
Internet (bandwidth) for
dLRev Use
Q-GIS and LUPMIS are both
free of charge
Usually available at the
Physical planning department of intervention and marginal
costs assumed to be negligible
Tablets with internet
connectivity and an internet
browser. Smart phones may
be used as well.
Internet bundle for use with
tablet / smartphone
dLRev is browser based and
can be operated from any
computer with browser and
internet access. However, a
dedicated workstation is
recommended.
internet broadband
connection. Therefore,
purchase of a dedicated MiFi
is recommended
Internet bundle for use with
MiFi
Already available in absence
of intervention and marginal
costs assumed to be negligible
Already available in absence
Optional: 10-20 tablets for
600 GHS each are enough for
a small team
GHS 10 for a week; averagely
use 2-4 weeks for data
collection
Optional: 1 workstation per
5,000 properties / businesses
MiFi: GHS 200 (Vodafone)
Turbo Net: GHS 300 (MTN)
100 GHS / month (if data is
used solely for dLRev)

Hardware for revenue
collection
Internet for dLRev use
Tablets / POS devices. One
device per revenue collector.
Internet bundle for use with
tablet / smartphone
Optional: 10-20 tablets for
600 GHS each are enough for
a small team
GHS 10 per week

The moment during which a cost is incurred throughout the four-year cycle depends on the
nature of the cost itself. The one-off costs include the action of uploading the initial map
to the dLRev server and the purchase of computing and internet hardware. Some cost items
require significant front-loaded investments, like the recruitment and training of data and
revenue collectors, as well as the tablets they require to do their work. Finally, there are

18
recurrent costs, such as the salaries of the dLRev management team, internet connectivity,
and the annual printing of demand notices.

Table 7 Distribution of costs over intervention period, GHS

Activities Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4

Uploading local plan to dLRev server 6

Data collection 22,000 40 40 40

Uploading of new data/quality checks 6 7 7 7

Training of dLRev Management Team 79,200 67,900 70,400 72,900

Hardware costs 9,100

Internet costs 1,500 1,200 1,200 1,200

Revenue collector training 12,200 11,300 11,300 11,300

Printing of demand notices 22,800 49,800 49,800 49,800

Total costs 146,900 130,200 132,700 135,200

Total discounted costs (8%) are GHS 488,600.

3.3 Benefits
The anticipated benefits of digitizing revenue mobilization and management are:

3.3.1 Reduction in the cost of data collection

The data collection process, the identification of business and property ratepayers, was
completely manual and not comprehensive, given the lack of geospatial data and
addressing. The annual activity lasted approximately 120 man-days per 10,000 parcels.
The dLRev management software has reduced this to 20 man-days per 10,000 parcels. The
time savings of 100 man-days was valued based on the average annual wage of GHS
13,105. The data collectors now undergo training and use tablets to upload new information
immediately to the local map.

3.3.2 Efficiency gains from issuing demand notices

The efficiency gains in issuing demand notices emanates from the faster printing and
distribution of bills and was measured by the number of days it takes revenue collectors to
distribute the bills, which decreased from 25 days to 2 for the municipality. The
municipalities in the sample ranged from 15 to as many as 80 days, prior to dLRev

19
implementation. The 23 man-days saved were valued based on the average annual wage of
GHS 13,105.

3.3.3 Efficiency gains from paying collectors

There was also a reduction in the time it takes to prepare the paperwork to pay revenue
collectors, which ranged from 20 to 80 days (the weighted average is 40) in the
municipalities prior to dLRev and dropped to a range of 10 to 20 days (weighted average
is 17). In the model MMDA, it is an efficiency gain of 23 days for the municipality. With
the municipality receiving its revenue earlier, the calculation of this benefit is based on the
time value of money; that is, a daily interest rate of 0.02% based on a real annual interest
rate of 7%.

3.3.4 Increase in revenues

This benefit refers to better coverage of the tax base; that is, an increase in the number of
ratepayers and an increase in the compliance rate. The weighted average growth rate of
revenue collected in the year after implementation of dLRev is 54%.

3.3.5 Benefits not captured

There are a few benefits that could not be readily measured at the time of this analysis. The
widening of the tax base is one source of the increase in revenues. That is, because of the
lack of mapping and addressing, there were ratepayers who were unknown to the
municipality and have now been captured by the geodatabase. There is however a subgroup
of pre-existing registered ratepayers, who, even after having received demand notices,
failed to pay. This has been estimated to be as high as 30% (Dzansi et al., 2018). In order
to identify this group, an accounting of the number of demand notices sent pre-intervention
against the number of compliant ratepayers would have been needed.

Another benefit that has not been captured is the reduction in the time to process payments.
The average time of 2 days remains the same. Processing time is the time from the moment
when the revenue (e.g. property rate) has been collected, until the payment has been made
into the MMDA’s bank account (including accounting / registration at the Finance
department,). As the revenue collection process in all MMDAs was still “conventional” in
2019, there was no change in the processing time. With the introduction of mobile / instant
payments in 2020, a significant reduction of processing time is expected.

20
 Table 8 Distribution of benefits over intervention period, GHS

Benefits Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4

Reduction, data collection cost 100 100 100

Efficiency gains, issuing demand notices 1,100 1,200 1,200

Efficiency gains, paying collectors 12,400 12,400 12,400

Increase in revenues 1,648,600 1,648,600 1,648,600

Total benefits 1,667,100 1,667,300 1,667,600

Total discounted benefits (8%) are GHS 4.3 million.

3.4 Conclusion
Though the data coming from the 9 municipalities was incomplete; that is, not all reported
fully on the various indicators, the analysis highlights the increase in productivity of
municipal workers that comes simply from digitizing operations. The bulk of the benefits
are derived from the reduction in the number of manual procedures and the time savings
of clients (ratepayers).

In 2020, the dLRev software will be licensed and formally handed over to MLGRD. To
assist the handover process, GIZ supports MLGRD in upgrading its IT Unit. An IT expert
will be seconded to MLGRD to develop an IT concept including functional roles. Trainings
of MLGRD staff will be conducted to prepare the team to serve as future helpdesk officers
for dLRev.

There is a concern regarding sustainability of these newly adopted practices. All processes
have been automated to enable a local system administrator at the district level to manage.
Relevant user manuals for system administrators and other users at local level are being
finalized to give users at all levels adequate information to manipulate the system with
limited external guidance. When completed, the relevant actors will be trained to use the
documents for the purpose.

21
4. BCR Summary Table
Interventions Discount Benefit Cost BCR Quality of
Evidence
dLRev 5% 4,540,500 508,100 8.9 Strong
software 8% 4,296,800 488,600 8.8
14% 3,870,900 454,500 8.5
Notes: GHS

22
5. References
Adu, EP, Buabeng, T, Asamoah, K, Damoah, CM. Digitization of local revenue collection
in Ghana: An evaluation of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). E J Info Sys Dev
Countries. 2020; 86:e12112. https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12112

Akudugu, J. A. & Oppong‐Peprah, E. (2013). Local government revenue mobilisation and

management: the case of Asante Akim South District Assembly, Ghana. Journal of Public
Administration and Governance, [S.l.], v. 3, n. 2, p. Pages 98.

Amankwah-Sarfo et al. (2018). Import clearance digitalization and socioeconomic

development: the case of Ghana.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2c80/a179d929002461741b3fe904896486a3fc10.pdf

Boamah, N. A. (2013). Constraints on property rating in the Offinso South Municipality of

Ghana. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, (13-14), 77-89.
https://doi.org/10.5130/cjlg.v0i13/14.3725

Dzansi, J. et al.(2018). Survey of local government taxation capacity 2017: findings and
implications, International Growth Centre, July 2018, reference number: S-33417-GHA-1.
https://www.vng-
international.nl/sites/default/files/internally_generated_funds_survey_report_final.pdf

Marco Cangiano, Alan Gelb, and Ruth Goodwin-Groen (2019). “Public Financial
Management and the Digitalization of Payments.” CGD Policy Paper 144. Washington,
DC: Center for Global Development. https://www.cgdev.org/publication/publicfinancial-
management-and-digitalization-payments

Osei‐Kojo A. E‐government and public service quality in Ghana. J Public Affairs. 2017;17:
e1620. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1620

Quaye-Ballard, J and A. Ru (2010). Modelling population growth on public water and

sanitation facilities using GIS and Statistics: a case study of Aboabo, Ghana, Indian Journal
of Medical Sciences, Vol. 64, No. 10, October 2010

World Bank (2018). Ghana Secondary Cities Support Program, Technical Assessment, 13
June 2018. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/107671536083152882/pdf/Final-
Technical-Assessment-Ghana-Secondary-Cities-Support-Program-P164451.pdf

23
6. Appendix 1 Overview: dLRev software development
The development of the dLRev software started back in 2013. During the 2014-16 phase
of the SfDR programme, the software was tested as a beta-version in five USAID-
supported LOGODEP districts in the Western Region in 2014/15. Since then, there have
been considerable areas of enhancement of the software with two mobile applications.

Overview of dLRev enhancements and functionalities

2017 dLRev hosted on Setting-up dLRev on a national platform means that districts can be
Ghana’s National IT set-up without physically being present at the local level. Hence,
Agency (NITA) there are no standalone operations with the system now.
2018 Data Collection App This allows for the use of handheld devices for data collection
(mobile application) operations which can be synced with the spatial database. it
eliminates the paper-based and forms scanning approach which was
fraught with operational challenges and errors.

2018 Fee Fixing upload and This provides districts with the option to upload their price list for
maintenance module fixing amounts to be charged in line with the national guidelines. It
also provides functionalities for maintenance of the district list.

2019 Revenue Collection This provides for collections of local revenue from door-to-door
App (mobile and ultimately will eliminate the paper-based approach to revenue
application) collections.

2019 Functionality for the The functionality allows districts to upload not only local plans
upload of SHP file into developed with Mapmaker but with Quantum GIS (QGIS) or
the dLRev ArcGIS also.

2019 Reports Reporting functions enhanced with registers for defaulters, payers,
payments register to be used by the collectors, summary reports of
payment by year, quarters, months and by items

2019 User Interface Security New property and BOP details forms were developed which not
Features expose some of the data to an experienced browser user

2019 Interface for collector Allows printing by zones, analysis and the basis for GCR
zones management

2019 Interface for all local While property, BOP and rent are the main debit/credit accounts,
revenue items the others, like fines, fees are just cashbook accounts that only
operational accrue payments have also been provided for in dLRev

2019 Updated dLRev User management uses bcrypt encryption, local administrators
administration enabled to manage local users, users can set own passwords.
module Additional admin modules developed for system configuration,
district parameter, collector and GCR management

24
 2019 GCR Management For tracking of General Counterfoil Receipt (GCR) books allotted
Module to collectors

2020 SMS solution for In order to use the SMS functionality, districts need to procure
billing and collection SMS credits from the SMS service provider.

2020 Mobile payments Solution to enable MMDAs to receive mobile and credit card
payments processed via Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement
Systems (GhIPSS) and automatically updated in dLRev

7. Appendix 2 Short Profiles of the selected MMDAs

Adenta Municipal Assembly
The Adenta Municipal Assembly was created in 2008 and carved out from the Tema
Municipal Assembly which is now Tema Metropolitan Assembly. It shares boundaries
with Kpone Katamanso and Ashaiman Municipalities in the East, Ayawaso West, La
Nkwantanang - Madina Municipality to the West, Kpone Katamanso Municipality to the
north and Ledzokuku Krowor Municipality to the South. Adenta has a land area of about
123 square kilometres. The population is 106,423 based on the 2010 Population and
Housing Census and a growth rate of 4.4%.

The Adenta Municipal Assembly received support in their IGF operations through the GIZ
implemented Good Financial Governance (GfG) programme during 2019 and is now a
partner MMDA of the Governance for inclusive development programme (GovID).

Adenta introduced the dLRev software in January 2019.

Ga South Municipal Assembly

The Ga South Municipal Assembly lies at the southwestern part of Accra and is one of the
newly created assemblies in the Greater Accra Region. It was carved out as a separate
municipality from the Ga South Municipal Assembly - today Weija Gbawe - in 2018. The
municipality shares boundaries with the Accra Metropolitan Area and Ga Central
Municipal to the Southeast, Akwapim South Districts to the Northeast, Ga West Municipal
to the East, West Akim Municipal to the North, Awutu-Senya District to the West, Awutu-
Senya East Municipal and Gomoa East District to the Southwest and the Gulf of Guinea to
the South. It occupies an area of 385.23 square kilometres. The projected population for
2019 is 378,867 people.

25
Before the creation of the Ga South Municipal Assembly in 2018, the former “mother”
district received support in their IGF operations through the GIZ implemented Support for
Decentralisation Reforms (SfDR) programme since 2014. In 2019, Ga South was supported
through the GfG programme and is now a partner MMDA of the Governance for Inclusive
Development (GovID) programme.

Ga South set-up the dLRev software in November 2018 with first use in 2019.

Suhum Municipal Assembly

The Suhum Municipal Assembly is in the southern part of the Eastern Region and was
created in 2012. It shares boundaries with the West Akim Municipality to the West, the
Akwapim North and New Juaben Municipalities to the East, the Akwapim South District
to the South and the East Akim Municipal to the North. It covers a land area of about 400
square kilometres and the population is 90,358 persons based on the 2010 population and
housing census.

From 2014 to 2019, the Municipal Assembly received support from the GIZ implemented
Support for Decentralisation Reforms (SfDR) programme. It is now a partner MMDA of
the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) programme (2019-2022).

Suhum set-up the dLRev software in 2017 in the district capital Suhum and started using
dLRev in the fiscal year 2018.

Komenda / Edina / Eguafo / Abirem Municipal Assembly

The Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal Assembly (KEEA) is in the Central
Region of Ghana and was carved out of the Cape Coast Metropolis in 1988 and elevated
to municipality status in 2008. It is bounded on the South by Gulf of Guinea, the East by
the Cape Coast Metropolis, the North by the Twifo/Hemang/Lower Denkyira District and
the West by the Mpohor/Wassa East District. It covers an area of 1,372.45 square
kilometres with a population of 144,705 persons according to 2010 population and housing
census.

From 2014 to 2019, the Municipal Assembly received support from the GIZ implemented
Support for Decentralisation Reforms (SfDR) programme. It is now a partner MMDA of
the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) programme (2019-2022).

26
KEEA started using the dLRev software in 2019 in several communities of the
administrative capital Elmina. However, in other part, the Dutch VNG International pilots
a different revenue collection system, Taxman, which is not based on spatial data and not
aligned to Ghanaian policies.

Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly

The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) was initially created as a district in 1988
and elevated to metropolitan status in 2007. It is bounded on the South by the Gulf of
Guinea, West by the K.E.E.A. Municipal Assembly, East by the
Abura/Asebu/Kwamankese District Assembly and North by the Twifo/Hemang/Lower
Denkyira District Assembly. It covers an area of 122 square kilometres. The population is
186,159 persons, based in 169,894 in the 2010 Population and Housing Census and a
growth rate of 1.8%.

From 2014 to 2019, the Municipal Assembly received support from the GIZ implemented
Support for Decentralisation Reforms (SfDR) programme. It is now a partner MMDA of
the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) programme (2019-2022).

CCMA started using the dLRev software in 2019 in the Southern part of Cape Coast. In
the Northern part, the Dutch VNG International pilots a different revenue collection
system.

Agona West Municipal Assembly

The Agona West Municipal Assembly is in the Eastern part of the Central Region. It was
created out of the former Agona District Assembly in 2008. The administrative capital is
Agona Swedru. It is bordered on the East and West by Effutu Municipal and
Asikum/Odoben/Brakwa Districts Assemblies. On the Northeast, it is bordered by Akim
West Municipal, Northwest by Brim-South District and on the South by Gomoa District.
The area is 623 square kilometres. The projected population for 2019 is 149,014, based on
115,358 persons in the 2010 Population and Housing Census at a growth rate of 3.2%.

From 2014 to 2019, the Municipal Assembly received support from the GIZ implemented
Support for Decentralisation Reforms (SfDR) programme. It is now a partner MMDA of
the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) programme (2019-2022).

27
Agona West started using the dLRev software in 2018 in the district capital, Agona
Swedru.

Bibiani/Anhwiaso/Bekwai Municipal Assembly

The Bibiani/Anhwiaso/Bekwai Municipal Assembly is in the Western Region and was
created in 1988. It is bounded on the North by the Atwima Mponua District (Ashanti
Region), South by the Wassa Amenfi District (Western Region), West by the Sefwi-
Wiawso Municipal Assembly (Western Region) and East by the Upper Denkyira West
(Central Region) and Amansie East Districts (Ashanti Region). It covers a total land area
of 873 square kilometres and had a population of 123,272 in 2010 and with a growth rate
of 1.8% per annum.

Bibiani was supported by LOGODEP, a three-year programme (2010-2013) benefiting 17

districts of the Western Region and funded by USAID. 2014 until 2019, the Municipal
Assembly received support from the GIZ implemented Support for Decentralisation
Reforms (SfDR) programme. It is now a partner MMDA of the Governance for Inclusive
Development (GovID) programme (2019-2022).

Bibiani introduced the dLRev software in 2014 in the administrative capital Bibiani.

Shama Municipal Assembly

The Shama Municipal Assembly was carved out of the former Shama/Ahanta-East
Metropolitan Assembly (SAEMA) in 2007 and inaugurated in 2008 with Shama as
administrative capital. It is bordered to the West by the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, to
the East by the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipal in the Central Region, to the
North by the Mpohor District and to the South by the Gulf of Guinea. It covers an area of
193.7 square kilometres with a population of 81,966 persons (GSS 2010 PHC).

Shama was supported by LOGODEP (2010-2013) and the SfDR programme (2014-2019).
It is now a partner MMDA of the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID)
programme (2019-2022).

dLRev was introduced in 2014 in the Southern part of Shama. In the Northern part of the
district capital, the Dutch VNG International pilots a different revenue collection system.

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Prestea Huni - Valley Municipal Assembly
The Prestea Huni - Valley Municipal Assembly was carved out of the former Wassa West
District in 2008 and elevated to Municipal status in 2017. The administrative capital is
Bogoso. It shares boundaries with Wassa Amenfi East and Wassa Amenfi Central Districts
in the North, Wassa Amenfi West Municipal to the West, Nzema East Municipal to the
South West, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality to the South, Mpohor and Wassa East Districts
to the East and to the North East by Twifo-Atti/Morkwa District in the Central Region. It
has a land area of 1,376 square kilometres. According to the 2010 Population and Housing
Census, the population is 159,304 persons.

Prestea Huni - Valley was supported by LOGODEP (2010-2013) and the SfDR programme
(2014-2019). It is now a partner MMDA of the GovID programme (2019-2022).

Prestea Huni - Valley introduced the dLRev software in 2014 in the district capital, Bogoso.

Valuation
MMDA Type of Data (2013/2016)
Suhum Property Valuation Roll 2010, Data on businesses in the
municipality
Adenta Property Valuation Roll 2010
Ga South No database in place (rates of 1995)
Agona West Property valuation roll in 2 of 6 zones
Cape Coast Property Valuation Roll 2010
K.E.E.A. No database in place (rates of 1995)
Bibiani/Anhwiaso/Bekwai No database in place (rates of 1995)
Prestea Huni - Valley No database in place (rates of 1995)
Shama No database in place (rates of 1995)

Source: GOPA Revenue Landscape Assessment (2013) and SfDR Baseline Survey
(2016)

29
The Ghanaian economy has been growing swiftly, with remarkable GDP growth higher than
five per cent for two years running. This robust growth means added pressure from special
interest groups who demand more public spending on certain projects. But like every country,
Ghana lacks the money to do everything that citizens would like. It has to prioritise between
many worthy opportunities. What if economic science and data could cut through the noise
from interest groups, and help the allocation of additional money, to improve the budgeting
process and ensure that each cedi can do even more for Ghana? With limited resources and
time, it is crucial that focus is informed by what will do the most good for each cedi spent. The
Ghana Priorities project will work with stakeholders across the country to find, analyze, rank
and disseminate the best solutions for the country.

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N V I S I T W W W. G H A N A P R I O R I T I E S . C O M

Copenhagen Consensus Center is a think tank that investigates and publishes the best policies
and investment opportunities based on social good (measured in dollars, but also incorporat-
ing e.g. welfare, health and environmental protection) for every dollar spent. The Copenhagen
Consensus was conceived to address a fundamental, but overlooked topic in international
development: In a world with limited budgets and attention spans, we need to find effective
ways to do the most good for the most people. The Copenhagen Consensus works with 300+
of the world’s top economists including 7 Nobel Laureates to prioritize solutions to the world’s
biggest problems, on the basis of data and cost-benefit analysis.

© Copenhagen Consensus Center 2020